Karl Toepfer was appointed as the new Dean of the College of Humanities and the Arts.
Dr. Toepfer, who has served as Interim Dean of that College since November 2004, previously
held the position of Associate Dean. He jointly holds the rank of professor in the
Department of Television, Radio, Film and Theatre.

Dr. Toepfer holds a MA degree in Theatre Arts from San José State University and BA
and PhD degrees from UCLA. For thirteen years, he was the Theatre Arts Graduate Coordinator
at SJSU. He has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses including theatre,
dance and film history, video performance and production techniques, performance analysis
theory, film and television culture, gender and performance, correlation of the arts,
history of modernism, and European and Asian dramatic literature and performance.

Dr. Toepfer is an internationally recognized scholar having published four books,
one of which was a 2001 novel. His scholarly credentials also include two books in
progress, numerous journal and book articles and conference papers presented before
professional societies. He has been the recipient of 26 grants and awards since 1988.
He has been active in performance direction on the SJSU campus and elsewhere throughout
California. In 1996 he directed a video pilot for a German television series.